Help me with bicep curls plz :D

[L777]

This is annoying me now, I can do 3x8 hammer curls with 15kg dumbells, but can do about 2 proper ones with 17s....whats the best way to increase, cos I've been stuck for the past 3 workouts!!

 

[Warboss Alex]

up the rep range to 12-15 with the 15's. or even 12-20.

keep elbows tucked in and lean against a wall doing these. no cheating.

bicep exercises are notoriously hard to progress with, it's normal.

 

[L777]

lol cheers, once again, solid-sounding advice.

I TOTALLY know what you mean about cheating. I always see some complete newbs grab well heavy weights, then 'swing' them up for the bicep curls and do about 20 with them. I'm just beginning to realise the importance of form....and I thought those mirrors were just for the posers in the gym!!

 

[Warboss Alex]

I wouldn't go under 7-8 reps for safety reasons on biceps so the logical thing is just do a higher range. Especially with dumbbell exercises (db curls etc), with which progress is easier to achieve with higher reps.

 

[Teflon_Mcgee]

Biceps are my favorite part to train when I'm training specific parts.

The great thing about biceps is there is such a wide array of excercises and you can work them hard 2-3 times a week and still get gains.

My bicep platue/growth routine always included 2-3 weeks of heavy bicep isolating excersises.

Contrary to Alex, I've always liked a heavier approach on biceps hitting around 4-7 reps, and then transitioning into high intensity/med-high reps as the workout progresses.

Back in the day when I had time to isolate and focus on a part my bicep routine would go something like this:

3 times/week for 2-3 weeks. Never plan the workout and try to never do the same SPECIFIC excerise in one week. And don't worry about hitting high weights or high reps. Just work out. If you need long rests take them. if you feel like supersetting and taking 30 sex rests then do it. Don't over think it.

Two years ago (last time I did this) I added 3 sets of 21's to the end of every workout and the results were great. Also if you want you can get into the gym the next day and do LIGHT weight and LIGHT reps on some basic excersice (like DB curls). The purpose of this is just to increase blood flow to the damaged tissue. I've had good experience with this on biceps.


When working biceps, form is very important. Concentrate on how your muscle feels as you lift the weight. Work on different grip widths (on bars) and different wrist and lifting angles (on DBs) until you find the right way to get the most out of each lift.

Try contracting your biceps as hard as you can while you lift the weight. This works amazingly well to bust platues.

Also use all the gym equipment. This is about the only time I stray from the barbell and dumbbells. Use the EZ curls, curl machines, cables, whatever they got. Atleast for a couple of weeks then you can go back to the basics.

 

[Teflon_Mcgee]

Oh yeah, about cheating....

CHEAT!!!!
Due to the simple physics of the lift, it is easier to lift a heavier weight at the top of the curl than at the bottom. Meaning the intitial part of the lift is your bottleneck.

But you want to stress the muscle as much as possible through the full ROM.

A technique to overcome this is to use cheater reps. Just swing the weight up past the point were you can't lift it and then lift it the rest of the way.

Remember, there is a difference between a cheat rep and a junk rep.

Granted, it doesn't mean use bad form or use your entire body and momentum to lift the weight. Cheater reps are legitimate techniques used by many.

Also remember, in the gym you can only cheat yourself.

 

[L777]

Also remember, in the gym you can only cheat yourself.

You should have that as a signature.

Cheers for the advice man, never knew about official 'cheat' reps.

 

[Warboss Alex]

You should have that as a signature.

Cheers for the advice man, never knew about official 'cheat' reps.

there is nothing 'official' about them. you are still doing half the lift and you are not strong enough to curl up the weight from the absolute bottom, period.

to me, it's like a deadlift off the floor.. getting the bar off the floor is the hard part, so many people 'tap' or even bounce the bar off the floor on subsequent reps. it's the same principle here. will you be moving more weight? yes. will you get a growth response? yes. will you have as good a growth response as if you'd done it strictly? no way.

this is why I say lean against the wall when you do curls. no room for cheating.

 

[Teflon_Mcgee]

there is nothing 'official' about them. you are still doing half the lift and you are not strong enough to curl up the weight from the absolute bottom, period.

to me, it's like a deadlift off the floor.. getting the bar off the floor is the hard part, so many people 'tap' or even bounce the bar off the floor on subsequent reps. it's the same principle here. will you be moving more weight? yes. will you get a growth response? yes. will you have as good a growth response as if you'd done it strictly? no way.

this is why I say lean against the wall when you do curls. no room for cheating.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.
Granted, I'm not saying use cheat reps on every set or everyworkout. But as a supplemental in your tool bag they can come in handy.


Also I have to disagre with you about standing on the wall. It's much better to develop good form while standing without support. This has been studied numerous times to show that stnading curls and shoulder presses produce better growth potential due to the increase in total muscle usage.

Much like the idea behind compound lifts.

 

[Warboss Alex]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.
Granted, I'm not saying use cheat reps on every set or everyworkout. But as a supplemental in your tool bag they can come in handy.

Also I have to disagre with you about standing on the wall. It's much better to develop good form while standing without support. This has been studied numerous times to show that stnading curls and shoulder presses produce better growth potential due to the increase in total muscle usage.

Much like the idea behind compound lifts.

Well, exactly.. you lean back against the wall SO that you can develop good form, and learn to curl without assistance. This way you learn to actually use the arm muscles more, so if in future you curl without the wall, it will be second nature to you.

Also, cheating only really applies to the heavier weights.. since most of the guys on this forum are beginners, I'd rather they didn't incorporate cheat techniques from the start. I'm sure you know what you're doing, but when a more experienced lifter tells people about the 'cheats' they use, know what happens? We get 150lb guys doing 50lb bar 'half curls' .. when they'd be better off doing it properly and building their base.

 

[mrRuckus]

Consider getting some of those magnets for dumbbells that come in like .25lb increments.

I haven't bothered with smaller ones yet (if ever) but i have 4 magnets of 1.25lbs each. So i stick those 4 on 2 dumbbells and can lift 52.5 and 67.5 instead of the gym's 50s and 65s, respectively.

oh yeah that's the name of one brand.. platemates..

 

[stronglifts]

This is annoying me now, I can do 3x8 hammer curls with 15kg dumbells, but can do about 2 proper ones with 17s....whats the best way to increase, cos I've been stuck for the past 3 workouts!!

Try some pull-ups & chin-ups 2-3times a week. You'll grow some solid back & arms.

-Mehdi.

 

[stronglifts]

If I may just add something here, I hate to go against you Warboss considering you know way more about bodybuilding than I do, but cheat curls were one of Arnold's favorite exercises: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/xrep5.htm.

Arnold used steroids, do you?

Seriously: cheat curls have their place. But before doing cheat curls, you must have learned the technique. I've seen enough people hurting their lower back from cheating on curls (and they were doing biceps curls, not cheat curls).

Stick to the biceps curls. Cheat curls or for later.

-Mehdi.

 

[Warboss Alex]

If I may just add something here, I hate to go against you Warboss considering you know way more about bodybuilding than I do, but cheat curls were one of Arnold's favorite exercises: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/xrep5.htm.

do Arnold's whole routine while you're at it!